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‘Many British navy and army officers hated the 'flash language' used by convicts.’

‘This is the story of an extraordinary quest by two women - one the wife of a journalist, and the other a young girl who had been sold to a flash house when she was just 10 years old.’

Phrases

flash in the pan

A thing or person whose sudden but brief success is not repeated or repeatable.

‘our start to the season was just a flash in the pan’

‘Are they a flash in the pan, though, or are they here to stay?’

‘Experts believe the upsurge in racing throughout the county is more than a flash in the pan, with attendance figures increasing at larger and smaller meetings in Yorkshire.’

‘Perhaps this is just another flash in the pan but I think it is significant.’

‘‘A lot of those bands are going to be a flash in the pan,’ he says.’

‘Although it was just a flash in the pan, the goodwill involved in setting up such a festival is still commented upon favourably by scholars today.’

‘A year ago I would have written the band off as a flash in the pan, but now I'm thinking that they've got what it takes to stick around for a while longer.’

‘And his form so far this season has proved that his success last year was no flash in the pan.’

‘Organising a music festival in India and battling the Indian bureaucracy was not exactly an easy affair for this group, but they seem confident about making this more than just a flash in the pan.’

‘The conference speech confirmed that he wasn't a flash in the pan.’

‘It is not a flash in the pan but something that's been maintained over a long period.’

in (or like) a flash

Very quickly; immediately.

‘she was out of the back door in a flash’

‘The cold was fierce and I was gone like a flash to get my woolies from the car before I got a dose of hypothermia.’

‘You could of course buy a jar of this delicious olive paste, but home-made tapenade can be done in a flash in a food processor.’

‘I closed the door quickly and like a flash I was at the table filling my bag with the money once again.’

‘They will sit on your rear bumper until they get a little bit of a straight road and then they are past you like a flash.’

‘He was on to it like a flash, racing into the penalty area.’

‘The weekend passes like a flash, and we return to the daily grind of college, waiting for it to come again.’

‘There had been ads on TV since September building up to Christmas, and it was all over in a flash.’

‘I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and three hours passed in a flash.’

‘Let me know if there's room on the back of your truck, and I'll be there in a flash.’

‘Peggy was out of the car in a flash, with Mrs Griffiths following her inside.’

instantly, suddenly, abruptly, immediately, instantaneously, all of a sudden

quickly, rapidly, swiftly, speedily, without delay

in an instant, in a moment, in a second, in a split second, in a minute, in a trice, like a shot, straight away, in a wink, in the blink of an eye, in the twinkling of an eye, before you know it, on the double, at the speed of light, like an arrow from a bow

in a jiffy, before you can say jack robinson, double quick, in double quick time, like lightning, like greased lightning, at warp speed